Give me a mind-blowing history fact

156,544 Views | 1054 Replies | Last: 2 days ago by p_bubel
BonfireNerd04
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Joe Biden was born closer in time to Lincoln's presidency than to his own.
agrams
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the description of something as being shoddy (aka: cheap or low quality) comes from the US Civil war, where textile manufacturers used recycled wool and fabric and shredded to make a material called shoddy, that could be to re-spun into uniforms in order to meet the war demand. They were of lower quality and would tear easily, hence why something being shoddy means cheap/bad/low quality.
BQ78
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And one of the biggest purveyors of shoddy was Brooks Brothers
Cen-Tex
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On Feb 9, 1945, the German submarine U-864 was torpedoed by the British sub HMS Venturer off the coast of Norway with all hands lost. The U-boat was the only submarine ever sunk by another submarine while both were submerged. U-864 was also carrying 67 tons of mercury to be delivered to Japan. The wreck and it's cargo still remain 490 ft below the surface. Some of the steel mercury containers have deteriorated and leaked into the surrounding area. Norway is considering entombing the potential environmental disaster.
agrams
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when France was falling to Germany in 1940, the British were worried the French fleet would be taken and used by Germany. the British offered to take custody or request the French sail them from Algeria to the west indies to keep them out of the German hands. the French refused and after signing the armistice the British attacked them at the Battle of Mers-el-Kbir, killing over 1200 French servicemen.

churchill said of the decision:

"This was the most hateful decision, the most unnatural and painful in which I have ever been concerned."
p_bubel
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William A. Menger's Western Brewery (1855-78), located on Alamo Square in San Antonio can be considered the first commercial Texas brewery. (Kreische Brewery also makes this claim and it was the same year)

Menger opened a hotel on the site in 1859 after deciding to build a place for his customers to sleep it off instead of using his tavern's tables - or so the legend goes. It is stated to be the oldest running hotel west of the Mississippi.




I've been desperately trying to find an original reference for this Pearl Brewery-Lonestar Brewery hatred/rivalry I want to add here but can't locate it again.

I will state for those that don't know, one half mile section of San Antonio River north of downtown gave rise to both The Pearl Brewery and Lonestar Beer. Neither is brewed in town anymore.
Rongagin71
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p_bubel said:

William A. Menger's Western Brewery (1855-78), located on Alamo Square in San Antonio can be considered the first commercial Texas brewery. (Kreische Brewery also makes this claim and it was the same year)

Menger opened a hotel on the site in 1859 after deciding to build a place for his customers to sleep it off instead of using his tavern's tables - or so the legend goes. It is stated to be the oldest running hotel west of the Mississippi.




I've been desperately trying to find an original reference for this Pearl Brewery-Lonestar Brewery hatred/rivalry I want to add here but can't locate it again.

I will state for those that don't know, one half mile section of San Antonio River north of downtown gave rise to both The Pearl Brewery and Lonestar Beer. Neither is brewed in town anymore.
The way I remember it, The Menger Hotel is located by the Alamo and makes a claim to have been where Teddy Roosevelt recruited the Rough Riders.
Also remember how good their mango ice cream was...
Aggie1205
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In WW2 Panama declared war on Japan before the US did.
Leggo My Elko
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The last Lipane Apache to come into a reservation came in in 1904. Thirty years after the Comanches surrendered, twenty years after Geronimo, and fourteen years after Wounded Knee. To say nothing of the many, many Lipanes who never submitted.
Jaydoug
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We say we were founded as a Christian nation but fun fact about John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams: they didn't believe Jesus was God.

They were Unitarians, a sect of "Christianity" that didn't believe in the Trinity. They believed Jesus was "inspired by God" but was just a man, not divine, and they did not believe in the miracles of the Bible.

Millard Fillmore and William Howard Taft were also Unitarian.

And yes, technically Thomas Jefferson wasn't a card carrying Unitarian but he agreed with many of their doctrinal confessions (such as Christ being only a man) and attended a Unitarian church while in Philadelphia.
Jabin
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Quote:

We say we were founded as a Christian nation but fun fact about John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams
Of course, none of those three attended the Constitutional Convention or had any direct input into the drafting of the Constitution. The overwhelming majority of the attendees at the Convention were devout believers.

Yet your conclusion is correct: the US was not "founded as a Christian nation". But it did not need to be since Christianity was woven inextricably if not explicitly into every facet of our culture, including the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and subsequent state and federal laws.
Sapper Redux
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The Constitution explicitly rejects any religious test or authority over government, and the framers were very, VERY clear that they preferred the pagan classical republican model over European parliamentary systems that did include a state church and explicit Christian principles as part of the organization of government. While many of the framers were doctrinaire in their faith, a very large number (especially for that time) were not, including Washington.

Also, saying Adams and Jefferson were not important to the Constitution and thus their religious beliefs should not affect how we approach that document, but then listing the Declaration as a "Christian" document is… not logical.
CanyonAg77
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Quote:

they preferred the pagan classical republican model over European parliamentary systems that did include a state church and explicit Christian principles as part of the organization of government.

I'd say America is founded on explicit Christian principles.

What the founders rejected was Church control over State, and State control over Church.
Sapper Redux
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CanyonAg77 said:

Quote:

they preferred the pagan classical republican model over European parliamentary systems that did include a state church and explicit Christian principles as part of the organization of government.

I'd say America is founded on explicit Christian principles.

What the founders rejected was Church control over State, and State control over Church.


Where are the explicit Christian principles? Because we know what they were reading and saying to each other, and it wasn't Christian theology.
Aggie1205
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Why don't yall take the debate to another thread and leave this one for its intended purpose
gggmann
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Aggie1205 said:

In WW2 Panama declared war on Japan before the US did.


Speaking of Panama, the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal is west of the Pacific entrance.
BQ_90
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gggmann said:

Aggie1205 said:

In WW2 Panama declared war on Japan before the US did.


Speaking of Panama, the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal is west of the Pacific entrance.
it's northwest, I guess I don't see why thats a mind blowing fact
BQ78
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If you think of the Panama Canal as joining the east and west of the hemisphere but the entrances are located geographically opposite of that, it is a little mind blowing.
JABQ04
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Neat fact I never knew. I guess I'm just a dummy though.

I just looked at and I'll be damned, totally opposite of what you'd expect.
jwoodmd
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BQ_90 said:

gggmann said:

Aggie1205 said:

In WW2 Panama declared war on Japan before the US did.


Speaking of Panama, the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal is west of the Pacific entrance.
it's northwest, I guess I don't see why thats a mind blowing fact
Oh, how's this one…

What country is directly south of Detroit?

Canada
Leggo My Elko
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Take it to the mind blowing geography facts thread guys...
BQ78
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Teddy shovels dirt on you.

BQ78
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EOC Ord, Civil War general and namesake of the fort, was the grandson of King George IV. His grandmother was supposedly George's true love but a British monarch cannot marry a Catholic.
jwoodmd
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Leggo My Elko said:

Take it to the mind blowing geography facts thread guys...
History, geography, six one, half dozen…
Belton Ag
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BQ78 said:

EOC Ord, Civil War general and namesake of the fort, was the grandson of King George IV. His grandmother was supposedly George's true love but a British monarch cannot marry a Catholic.
The Ord military family has a very interesting story.
agrams
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the first woman to be formally inducted into an Army in American history was Sally Tompkins, who took the rank of captain in the Confederate army. She ran a hospital, and when Jefferson Davis instituted regulations requiring military hospitals be under military command, she had done such good work she took the commission to continue running her hospital, though she declined to be on the official payroll.

While Lincoln is commonly considered to be from Illinois, and Jefferson David served as senator from Mississippi, they were actually both born in Kentucky.

Jefferson Davis' first wife was the daughter of President Zachary Taylor.
p_bubel
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The metric system and the US:

In 1793, Thomas Jefferson requested artifacts from France that could be used to adopt the metric system in the United States, and Joseph Dombey was sent from France with a standard kilogram. Before reaching the United States, Dombey's ship was blown off course by a storm and captured by pirates, and he died in captivity on Montserrat.

Thus ended the metric sytem (outside of drug use) in the US.
jwoodmd
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p_bubel said:

The metric system and the US:

In 1793, Thomas Jefferson requested artifacts from France that could be used to adopt the metric system in the United States, and Joseph Dombey was sent from France with a standard kilogram. Before reaching the United States, Dombey's ship was blown off course by a storm and captured by pirates, and he died in captivity on Montserrat.

Thus ended the metric sytem (outside of drug use) in the US.
Really don't think you realize how much SI (metric) is used in the US.
Rabid Cougar
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jwoodmd said:

p_bubel said:

The metric system and the US:

In 1793, Thomas Jefferson requested artifacts from France that could be used to adopt the metric system in the United States, and Joseph Dombey was sent from France with a standard kilogram. Before reaching the United States, Dombey's ship was blown off course by a storm and captured by pirates, and he died in captivity on Montserrat.

Thus ended the metric sytem (outside of drug use) in the US.
Really don't think you realize how much SI (metric) is used in the US.
Vehicles and airplanes. Lots of machinery.

The legendary 10mm socket wrench and 10mm nut driver....
Sapper Redux
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p_bubel said:

The metric system and the US:

In 1793, Thomas Jefferson requested artifacts from France that could be used to adopt the metric system in the United States, and Joseph Dombey was sent from France with a standard kilogram. Before reaching the United States, Dombey's ship was blown off course by a storm and captured by pirates, and he died in captivity on Montserrat.

Thus ended the metric sytem (outside of drug use) in the US.


Never forget Washington's dream:
BQ78
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Ammo
BrazosBendHorn
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A (half) nephew of Hitler served in the US Navy during WWII. He was awarded a Purple Heart.
https://lyonairmuseum.org/blog/corpsman-hitler-us-navy/
BQ78
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Company F, 27th Indiana made its mark in the Civil War when Corporal Barton Mitchell found an order from Robert E. Lee wrapped around three cigars during the Antietam Campaign.

However, the company had another distinction of having the largest contingent of men over six feet in height. In fact, one company commander, David Buskirk was the tallest man in the Federal Army standing tall at one half inch under seven feet.
BQ78
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https://historycollection.com/you-probably-havent-heard-the-story-of-the-only-civilian-killed-during-the-battle-of-gettysburg/


Jack Skelly


Wesley Culp



Jennie Wade

The article tells the story pretty well but has one major fact wrong. Wesley Culp was not a Union soldier but was working as a blacksmith in Sheppardstown, VA when the war came. He joined the Confederate Army and was a part of the famed Stonewall Brigade. Wesley ran into Jack in a hospital in Winchester after the Second Battle of Winchester while looking for some of his wounded friends. Wesley was killed attacking the hill named for his family (Culp's Hill) and on his family's land.

The artcile also fails to mention that Jack never recovered from his wound and died 9 days after Jennie.
 
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